Welcome to the Multilateral Investment Fund's Haiti Blog. We are glad that you stopped by to visit us! We will be bringing you stories about MIF projects in Haiti, and keep you posted on what is happening around the topic of Haiti in the field, the news and blogosphere. The idea is to raise awareness of the great things we are doing in the country.

For instance, did you know that until two decades ago, coffee was Haiti’s principal farm export, representing as much as 70 percent of its foreign agricultural sales?

On June 26, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao concluded his tour of Latin America by offering a US$10 billion loan program for infrastructure projects in the region. A commitment of this size will undoubtedly have wide ranging benefits for productivity and growth, although when one compares the size of the pledge to the region’s estimated $200 to $250 billion infrastructure gap, it’s clear that even more needs to be done to meet peoples’ needs.

One way to fill the gap is through public-private partnerships or “PPPs,” long-term contracts between a public-sector body and a private-sector entity for the design, construction operation and maintenance of public infrastructure.